Noynoy clears SWS from ‘Quiapo surveys’ claim

Presidential aspirant Sen. Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III has cleared the air with pollster Social Weather Stations (SWS) by giving assurance that he was not referring to it when he said that some surveys "can be bought from Quiapo" in a forum weeks ago. In a letter dated January 20, Aquino wrote SWS president Mahar Mangahas claiming he was quoted out of context.

"My comments were spun by quarters to make it appear that I disparaged your survey results. I would like to clarify that I was pertaining to other survey firms who seem intent to spin the results to deceive the public and conceal the true voice of our people. The SWS obviously is not one of them," he said in his letter, a scanned image of which was posted on the SWS Web site Monday. Aquino uttered the controversial statement against survey firms at "Kilalanin: A Presidential Forum" at the De La Salle Zobel School last January 9. He, however, did not name the survey firm he was referring to. Other pollsters such as Pulse Asia and the Issues and Advocacy Center (The Center) have yet to announce if Aquino made a similar classification to them. The Center of publicist Edgardo Malay, however, carried a press release dated January 23 where it indicated Aquino's ratings had started to "plunge." In his letter to Mangahas, Aquino also assured the SWS president that he holds him and the SWS "in the highest esteem." He added that for 25 years, SWS "has been and still is a competent and respectable social research institution." "We remain firm in our belief that the SWS and all its officers remain true to their mission to deliver true and competent service to the Filipino public. We feel compelled to put these thoughts down because you are a person we have held in the highest esteem," he said. - KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV